I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the St. Patrick’s Day parade yesterday.

To the seniors out there, we now have a special Golden pass parking program that you may be interested in, that seeks to make it easier for you to park downtown. More details are at the end of this message.

Our Monday meeting starts at 5:45PM with a closed session (i.e. public cannot attend) dealing with union contract negotiations, as well as something having to do with potential or existing lawsuits related to our City Dock project. The regular (open to the public) meeting will start at the normal time at 7pm. We have one item up for a public hearing: O-3-26 – “Annapolis harbor lines at Hawkins Cove”.  After this public hearing we will take a final vote on the short term rental moratorium (please see my full comments below under the legislation header)

Speaking of City Dock, you may have seen the big news that FEMA has finally released the $33M in promised grant funding for the City Dock resilience project. A big thank you to our State and Federal partners that have helped us get to this point.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

Last week was a bit of a rough meeting. Unfortunately, myself and Alderwoman O’Neil lost the vote on O-41-25, that created a new Deputy Chief of Staff position. We tried to get a postponement of only two weeks to address some of our concerns, but neither the Mayor nor enough of our other colleagues on the Council were willing to grant us that courtesy. Alderwoman O’Neal brought up the concern that we were approving a position’s pay scale without even being presented with a job description to justify that pay scale. I raised the concerns I expressed in my last newsletter, which was that I felt this should have waited until the budget when we could look at the needs of all of the branches of government at the same time, as the legislative branch (i.e. the Council) has significant needs that are not being met and we are not able to function as effectively as we otherwise could. Regardless, we lost the vote to postpone by just one vote. It’s a bit disheartening that none of my colleagues would grant us the simple courtesy of more time, and I hope this does not indicate how things will continue to operate under this new Council and Mayor.

This past Thursday we had a presentation on a proposed Comprehensive Rezoning. This effort will, for now, focus on the downtown area. Expect to see this rolled out over the next year.

The agenda for our Monday night Council meeting is light. We have a proposal to adjust the mooring requirements (O-2-26), a Council discussion on public parking (I believe this is on overview or this new Council), with two pieces of legislation being introduced: one to temporarily dissolve the Arts in Public Places Commission so it can be reconstituted from scratch with new rules, and another that would adjust the harbor lines associated with the Hawkins Cove water access improvement and shoreline restoration.

In case you are curious, at our last Environmental Matters Committee we received some excellent presentations from our city arborist and our stormwater group. Our arborist briefed us on the urban tree canopy program, and outlined how we will meet our goal of 50% tree canopy by 2050. Here are some of the benefits that our trees present to us.

Now that our tree program is covered by our watershed restoration fund, we have a dedicated funding stream and don’t have to worry about it being cut every year. Such cuts were why we were unable to meet our previous tree canopy target of 50% by 2035. One interesting tidbit is that only 7% of the Annapolis tree canopy covers impervious surfaces. This shows how and why we need to give attention to relaxing our parking requirements and converting spaces into tree wells.

On the stormwater front we received a briefing on how the fee is structured for non-residential properties, and staff explained how they will be moving to a model that is more equitable and accurately assesses the fee based on actual impervious coverage. This will also allow us to create a more effective rebate program to give property owners a way to reduce this fee if they make stormwater improvements on their property, which ties in with my previous comments about the tree canopy program.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

We don’t have much on the agenda for Monday, but there is one piece of legislation from the Mayor that I do have quite a bit of concern about. But before I get to that, you'll see two items up for a public presentation: one on houseboats and house barges from the harbormaster, and another on short term rental enforcement, presumably from Planning & Zoning.

Mayoral power grab?

O‑41‑25 proposes creating a new Deputy Chief of Staff position within the Mayor’s Office. If adopted, it would expand that office to 15 employees with a $2.1 million budget —making it the largest and most expensive Mayor’s Office in Annapolis history (up from just 7 employees in FY17). By contrast, the City Council, which serves as the legislative branch, has no staff of its own. This imbalance raises serious concerns about the separation of powers and the Charter’s clear distinction between the Mayor as the City’s chief executive and the City Manager as the chief administrative officer. Many of the duties currently performed by, or proposed for, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff fall squarely within the City Manager’s administrative responsibilities, not the Mayor’s political and executive role. And one of the roles fundamental to the Mayor's office, that of being Chair of the Council, is partially off-loaded to this new position—serving as a liaison to the City Council—and is especially troubling as the Council should not require an intermediary to communicate with one of its prime members. Big picture, expanding the Mayor’s Office without evaluating the needs of all branches risks further blurring these lines and concentrating too much power in the executive. For these reasons, I believe this legislation should be postponed until the budget process, when the new City Manager can weigh in and we can assess the needs of every branch together. While I respect the Mayor as a friend and colleague, I also swore an oath to uphold our Charter, and as written, this proposal conflicts with both its letter and its spirit, and is not the collaborative approach to governance I was hoping for and expecting.

Town Hall video

Thank you to all Ward 7 residents who attended last week’s town hall with the mayor and our directors. We had a strong turnout, although there was one disruptive individual who was not even from our City—fortunately, he wasn’t from our Ward! Otherwise, the event went very smoothly. If you have any questions following the meeting, please feel free to reach out. If you missed the town hall, you can watch it here.

Snow on sidewalks

If you see sidewalks that are still covered with snow in the City, please email [email protected]. If you see sidewalks along Forest Drive, Bay Ridge Rd, Hillsmere Drive, those are maintained by the County and they have enforcement authority. Please submit those complaints at Report a Concern | Anne Arundel County Government.

Summary of last meeting

At our last Council meeting, we approved R-2-26 – Establishing the order of succession for Mayor (I voted Aye).

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

The big news is still the difficult recovery coming out of this winter storm. Our crews are still hard at work. I know of at least two streets that have been missed, and our Public Works has been notified and plans on addressing them today and tomorrow. Other than that, most roads should have at least one lane that is passable. If you should have any remaining issues with snow on your road, feel free to log the issues with the City at  the Report an Issue portal, email [email protected] or call 410-260-2211.

The City will also continue giving residents more time to get their sidewalks cleared of snow, but we will start to take enforcement action against property owners along school routes, with an emphasis on businesses and multi-family complexes in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic. It is simply too dangerous for people and kids to walk in the roadways so we are doing what we can to get our sidewalks passable.

Mayor Littmann and I will be holding a joint Town Hall on February 5^th at 6:30 at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck library. The Mayor wants to introduce you to the Department Directors. They will each tell you about the services they provide and how you can get involved or get in touch with them. We will be including the usual open Q&A at the end of the meeting. Hope to see you there! I could use help distributing flyers. The conditions of the sidewalks and roadways will hold us back, but if you feel you can safely distribute flyers, please let me know and I will let you know how to get some for distribution. But only do so if you feel you can safely walk around your community. In lieu of walking around, please spread the word to your neighbors via any community email or social media group that you may have access to.

As far as Monday’s Council meeting, we don’t have too much on the agenda, but you can find details on the two items up for a public hearing below.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

I hope you're staying safe and warm throughout this snowstorm. The roads are still unsafe, so I recommend remaining indoors. Our Public Works teams are working hard to clear the heavy wet snow. Unfortunately, one of our trucks is out of commission, which affects Ward 7. Assistance is on the way, but if you live on one of the streets listed below (mine included!), snow removal may be delayed.

• Janice
• Warren
• Berwick
• Timber Creek
• Victor Pkwy
• Dogwood
• Georgetown Court
• Fairhope Court
• Windwhisper
• Yachtsman

Mayor Littmann and I will be holding a joint Town Hall on February 5^th at 6:30 at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck library. The Mayor wants to introduce you to the Department Directors. Each of them will get 2 minutes to tell you about the services they provide and how you can get involved or get in touch with them. We will be including the usual open Q&A at the end of the meeting. Hope to see you there! I’ll have flyers printed up soon for distribution. If you can help distribute flyers, please let me know!

Due to the snowstorm, our Monday Council meeting has been postponed until February 2^nd.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

Mayor Littmann and I will be holding a joint Town Hall on February 5^th at 6:30 at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck library. The Mayor wants to introduce you to the Department Directors. Each of them will get 2 minutes to tell you about the services they provide and how you can get involved or get in touch with them. We will be including the usual open Q&A at the end of the meeting. Hope to see you there! I’ll have flyers printed up soon for distribution.

Our Monday Council meeting has two items up for public hearing:

O-40-25 - Moratorium on new Short-term Rental permits (see below for details)

O-41-25 - Mayor proposes new Deputy Chief-of-staff position (see below for details)

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

I wanted to inform you that we have a special Council meeting scheduled for tomorrow, from 2-4pm. These meetings, typically the second of each month, can be called for by the Mayor at will. I’m not entirely sure what precipitated this late December meeting, but what I do know is that the time was moved earlier due to the hectic nature of Midnight Madness. I do apologize for getting this newsletter out late, but the odd Council meeting date has thrown me off my normal schedule. Fortunately, we don’t have anything up for a public hearing and nothing significant up for final vote.

What we do have on our agenda are two items of note:

Moratorium update – The moratorium on new short-term rental (STR) licenses (R-50-25) will be withdrawn and reintroduced as an Ordinance, due to updated guidance from the law office. I am still in opposition to the underlying moratorium. I’ll detail my reasons below.

Mayor proposes new Deputy Chief-of-staff position. See below for details.

Committee assignments - We will also be voting on our committee assignments, and it looks like I will once again likely chair Environmental Matters and serve on the Transportation and Economic Matters Committees.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

Thank you to everyone who attended the City Council inauguration—it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, and we were fortunate to enjoy clear weather that helped set a positive tone for the new term. The spirit of community was evident, and I appreciate your continued engagement as we begin our work together.

As we transition from celebration to governance, I am focused on catching up with constituent communications and preparing to introduce new legislation this spring. My priority is to ensure that our legislative agenda reflects our shared goals and the needs of our residents.

First meeting of the new term

Our first meeting as the new Council convenes this Monday. While much of the agenda covers routine matters such as establishing meeting dates and making committee assignments, there is also a substantive item up for discussion that warrants your attention.

Short term rental moratorium – R-50-25

R-50-25 is being introduced by Alderwoman O’Neal and Mayor Littmann. It would place a moratorium on all new short term rental licenses for non-owner-occupied properties. I am adamantly against this legislation. First of all, traditionally we do not have substantive legislation until January, given that we need time to get oriented and schedule our committee meetings, and rushing this short-shrifts the Council and the public process. Let me explain a bit: if this legislation passes on Monday on first reader, since our committees are not assigned yet and won’t be until January, that means we will have only 60-days to conduct our review versus 90. While the full 90 may not be needed, we don’t know that yet, especially in light of many members being new to this, and we are artificially limiting ourselves. While we could, and may, suspend the rules to give ourselves more time, such a maneuver should be rare. And in this case I in no way think this is an emergency that warrants such extreme actions, especially in light of the fact that we just passed monumental legislation limiting STRs not even 3 months ago with O-17-25. Furthermore, creating the precedent that it’s ok to introduce substantive legislation at our first Council meeting is not a good precedent to set. I fully understand that some made promises to do this, without fully understanding our processes and schedule, but at this stage of on-boarding and orientation I feel that what’s good for the body needs to take precedence over what may be politically expedient. For these reasons I will likely be voting no on this on First Reader. I have a lot of other concerns on the merits of this legislation, but First Reader/introduction is typically is not an appropriate time to have such a discussion on merits, so I will save that for a future email. Suffice it to say even the merits give me great pause on supporting this effort.

Closed session at 6pm

We are having a closed session at 6pm to brief the new Council on legal cases. Our regular meeting will resume at 7pm.

Despite this bumpy start, I look forward to continuing to serve you and working with the new Council.

Stay healthy and safe,

Rob

Thank You

I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to you for re-electing me to serve a third term as your Alderman for Ward 7. Your continued trust and support mean so much to me, and I remain committed to representing you with transparency, integrity, and dedication. Please know that you can always reach out to me with your concerns or ideas. I value hearing from you and working together to strengthen our community.

As we begin this new term, I want to note that our administration and constituent services office are currently in a state of transition. This may cause some delays in my ability to get resolutions to your inquiries, but rest assured that I will follow up with the new administration as soon as possible.

We are down to the wire! This Tuesday is election day and every vote counts! Please remember to cast your ballot at the Eastport-Annapolis Neck Library any time between 7AM to 8pm.

If you should need